Frank Macskasy on Pike River

Shunda Barunda laid some harsh charges here over the behaviour of National, Labour and the unions in the management of the Pike River mine. I've been on the lookout for a pithy response to what he said ever since. Frank, commenting at Pundit had what I was looking for:

* The changes to legislation in the early 1990s by a reform-obsessed National Government  seems to have created the proverbial ticking time bomb. As with the leaky/rotting homes syndrome, the de-regulation of mining and safety has resulted in inevitable disaster.

* The Pike River Mine company seems to have operated using short cuts, taking advantage of the de-regulation of the 1990s. And like other hostile environments such as the sea and outer space, mining is an unforgiving activity where  eventually good luck will run out.

* Whilst National may have facilitated the environment where all the elements came together for an eventual catastrophe - it shouldn't be forgotten that Labour had nine years to address this problem and re-instate mines inspectors. They obviously did not.

* And lastly, where was the miners' union? Why did the remaining safety inspector(s) not blow the whistle? (I'm not even going to ask about the media, which seems to have fallen asleep-at-the-wheel, only to awaken when there are suitable crime stories to report, or stranded penguins that go off the Cuteness Scale...)  And Bernie Monk stated that the mine was "obviously unsafe".